This invention relates to axial piston machines including in particular, but not necessarily limited to, axial reciprocating piston steam engines.
In general, an axial piston machine is provided with an array of three or more fixed cylinders having pistons reciprocated along parallel axes clustered about the axis of a single throw crankshaft. Intermediate the cylinder and the crankshaft, a linkage system operatively connects the cylinder pistons to the common crankshaft and includes a wobble plate having a central pivot point established by a universal joint on the crankshaft axis. A valving system is usually provided to port fluid to and from the cylinders to produce uniform rotation of the crankshaft The foregoing type of axial piston engine is already well known, and while the configuration thereof has obvious advantages, especially for pressurized vapor engines, no such engines have been adopted for use on a wide scale. The lack of commercial exploitation of this type of engine is probably due to bearing failure associated with the relatively complex motion conversion system especially for cylinder assemblies of the double-acting types wherein the piston undergoes a power stroke in both directions of travel.
It is therefore an important object of the present invention to provide an improved axial piston machine of the foregoing type avoiding or minimizing the problems and drawbacks heretofore associated therewith and yet fully utilizing the potential benefits of such machines.